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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25875673">Dragon</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/camcatwriter/pseuds/camcatwriter'>camcatwriter</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Fictober 2019 [12]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Sanders Sides (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst with a Happy Ending, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders Has Issues, Fictober 2019, First Aid, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Injuries, Self-Esteem Issues</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 09:09:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>822</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25875673</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/camcatwriter/pseuds/camcatwriter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Roman vanquishes the Dragon Witch, but he comes away more than a bit worse for the wear. Luckily, Virgil is there to help him through it.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Anxiety | Virgil Sanders &amp; Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Fictober 2019 [12]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1503923</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Dragon</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>me: hmm let's hurt Roman<br/>me to me: how about it's both physically and emotionally<br/>me:<br/>me: that's brilliant</p>
<p>in other words I'm crying for unrelated reasons and Roman is a bottle of projection for me so here's Roman crying as well but by dangit he's gonna get cared for as well because what else is projection for</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Roman shut the door to the Imagination behind him, leaning over with his hands on his knees and breathing heavily. The Dragon Witch had put up quite a fight, but he'd vanquished her at long last. Not without picking up a few minor injuries, of course. And... a few, well, <em>less</em> minor injuries. </p>
<p>No matter. Everyone back in the mindscape should be asleep by now, so he'd just slip into the bathroom and patch himself up and he'd be right as rain in a couple of days, no trouble at all. He could do that, at least.</p>
<p>Or at least, there wouldn't have been any trouble.</p>
<p>Roman swung open his door and headed for the bathroom, holding the makeshift bandage around his slowly bleeding arm as tightly as he could.</p>
<p>"Ro?"</p>
<p>Roman froze. This was <em>not</em> part of the plan, nonono- </p>
<p>Virgil came up behind Roman, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Hey, what's up? Why're you awake so late any-" Virgil cut himself off when he saw the blood soaking through the fabric wrapped around Roman's arm. "Roman."</p>
<p>Roman winced in pain as he tried to twist away so Virgil couldn't see. "It was just a scrape with the Dragon Witch, Virgil, I'm fine-"</p>
<p>"Don't do that." Virgil grabbed Roman by his uninjured elbow and pulled him towards the bathroom.</p>
<p>Roman's heart sank as he braced himself for a lecture he wasn't in the mood for. "Really, I'm fine, Virgil. You don't have to do this, I can patch myself up. I do it all the time!"</p>
<p>"All the time?"</p>
<p>Wrong thing to say, apparently. </p>
<p>"Well, not... not <em>all</em> the time, but these things happen, you know, and well it's not always practical to wake anyone else up-"</p>
<p>"Roman, you've never woken me up to help you deal with an injury." Virgil's tone betrayed nothing about what he was thinking as he put down the toilet seat lid and gestured for Roman to sit. </p>
<p>Roman scrambled for some excuse as he sat down. "Ah, well, I mean, you clearly don't get enough sleep as it is, it would be terribly rude of me-"</p>
<p>"So you wake up Patton? Or Logan?" Virgil fixed him with a steely glare.</p>
<p>Roman swallowed hard, feeling the beginnings of tears pricking at his eyes. "Well, no, but-"</p>
<p>Virgil set the first-aid kit on the counter and locked eyes with Roman. "Or do you just deal with it by yourself because you don't want to "bother" anyone?" He surrounded "bother" with air quotes, his frustration bleeding through now.</p>
<p>Roman ducked his head, trying to stop himself from crying. "I can handle it. You guys don't have to worry about me, I can handle a few scrapes from a battle I went looking for." He swallowed around the lump in his throat and slowly began removing the bloodied bandage and his tunic so Virgil could access the wound. "I'm sorry you have to deal with..." he gestured to himself, "...all this."</p>
<p>Virgil swore softly and knelt down next to Roman. "Princey... Roman, don't you <em>dare</em> apologize." Roman looked up and startled at the intensity of Virgil's gaze. </p>
<p>"But-"</p>
<p>"No. It's time for me to talk and you to listen, alright? You do not, have not, and will not ever have to apologize for needing help." </p>
<p>Roman couldn't look away, but he also couldn't stop the tears that spilled out over his cheeks. "I-"</p>
<p>"Roman, I'm only worried about you because I care about you. We all do. If you woke up Patton right now and asked him to put some antiseptic on this cut, he would do it in a heartbeat. If you woke up Logan right now and asked him to help you wrap this bandage-" Virgil waved the bandage he held in his hand, "he absolutely would. And if you asked me? I would do it, no questions asked." Virgil put a hand on Roman's cheek, which Roman leaned into, eyes closing briefly. "Roman, we want you to be okay." Virgil stood up and pulled out what he needed from the first-aid kit. "<em>I</em> want you to be okay."</p>
<p>Roman wiped at his eyes. "Okay."</p>
<p>The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes while Virgil gently cleaned the cuts and scrapes that Roman had accumulated during his fight and bandaged the one on his arm, opting for bandaids for the worst of the others.</p>
<p>Task complete, Virgil sat on the floor and leaned back against the tub, staring up at Roman. </p>
<p>"Thanks," Roman whispered after a minute or two of peaceful quiet.</p>
<p>Virgil gave him a small smile- almost more of a smirk, really. "You're welcome. Just," he said, standing up carefully, reaching a hand for Roman to help him up as well, "don't be afraid to ask us for help. Okay?" He pulled Roman into a sort of half-hug, mindful of his bandaged arm.</p>
<p>Roman sank gratefully into the hug. "Okay."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>As always, kudos and comments literally make my day, and if you want to hit me up on tumblr you can find me at <a href="http://www.cam-cat-writer.tumblr.com">cam-cat-writer</a> so feel free to come squeal with me or whatever ;)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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